The present invention relates to a sanitary napkin comprising an absorbent body, and also to a method for manufacturing such a sanitary napkin.
The absorbent bodies included in present-day sanitary napkins normally have sufficient absorption capacity to take-up all menstrual fluid discharged by the wearer over the intended use time. Leakage of a sanitary napkin is usually due to factors other than the absorption capacity of the absorbent body. One such factor is the manner in which the napkin fits the wearer, since there is a serious risk of leakage should gaps or the like form between the wearer""s body and the napkin after the napkin has been applied.
The primary object of the present invention is to reduce the risk of leakage caused by the formation of such gaps, while a secondary object is to reduce leakage caused by saturation of the absorbent body in local areas thereof.
These objects are achieved in accordance with the invention with a sanitary napkin which includes an absorbent body and which is characterized by a layer of compressible and resilient, essentially non-absorbent material placed adjacent that side of the absorbent body which lies distal to the wearer""s body in use. When the sanitary napkin is worn, the layer of resilient material will urge the absorbent body against the wearer""s body and therewith ensure that good body contact is obtained between napkin and user.
According to one preferred embodiment, the resilient layer also extends around the periphery of the absorbent body and is comprised of hydrophobic fibre wadding or porous foamed plastic. According to one variant, The layer of compressible and resilient material is thicker in a longitudinal central region of the napkin than in a remainder of the napkin. Thus, the resilient layer is thicker within the region of the wetting point than in other regions. The resilient layer is placed advantageously between the absorbent body and an outer casing sheet, which is preferably comprised of an air-permeable material. An inner casing sheet of liquid-permeable material is also placed adjacent that side of the absorbent body which lies distal to the resilient layer.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a sanitary napkin including an absorbent body, and a layer of compressible and resilient, essentially non-absorbent material located adjacent a surface of the absorbent body which lies distal to a body of a wearer in use, with the layer of compressible and resilient material having a surface area extending entirely over the surface of the absorbent body. The layer of compressible and resilient material is thicker in a longitudinal central region of the napkin than in a remainder of the napkin, and the layer of compressible and resilient material is resiliently compressible in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the absorbent body, so as to urge the sanitary napkin to fill out all available space between the sanitary napkin and the body of the wearer during use.
The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a sanitary napkin which includes an absorbent body and a layer of resilient material, said method being characterized by the following steps: Fastening together continuous layers of absorbent material and resilient material to form a continuous composite web and then cutting finished sanitary napkins from the continuous web. The invention provides a particularly simple method for the manufacture of sanitary napkins, since, in the case of the present invention, the absorbent body of the napkin need not be enclosed between an inner and an outer casing sheet that extend peripherally beyond the absorbent body and there joined together, as is the case of conventional sanitary napkin manufacture.
In one preferred embodiment of the inventive method, at least one continuous casing sheet is fastened to the continuous sheets of absorbent and resilient material, prior to cutting-out finished napkins.